I'll be travelling to Swansea on Friday. I'll post more tomorrow. But, as background...
Swansea are the current holders of this cup.
The other SF is also being played at 7pm on Friday, Leicester City v Aston Villa.
Not all Academies enter. The likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, etc don't usually enter.
Depending on the number of entries, there are qualifying rounds. To get it all down to 8 groups of 4. Those are played home & away. With the top two qualifying for a Round of 16. Then, it's straight knockout. Done & dusted on the night. Extra Time & Penalties if required.
Utd were the only Cat 2 Academy to get through to even the QF, let alone this SF.
We qualified out of a Group which included two Cat 1 Academies, Villa & WBA.
Each side is allowed three over age outfield players and an over age goalkeeper. All others must be born after 1 Jan 1994.
But, as many people will know, United's approach is NOT to treat U23 as a RESERVE team. First teamers are very rare. Get 'em in young, cull ''em if they're not going to make it. Harsh, realistic. That's the strategy (my words)
